By Rami Mansi
With pop-ups on both sides of the country, magazine issues, and a runway show part of New York Fashion Week, the 90’s and 2000’s-fashion-inspired and vendor-fueled marketplace, Hot Girl Market (HGM), is built with the purpose of creating a safe space for female-owned vendors and a thriving area of identity and creativity.
The Vanguard had the opportunity to talk to Brooklyn College junior and founder of HGM, Lex Finley, about balancing responsibilities, finding motivation, and the future of HGM.
Finley’s journey with HGM started before its very conception.
“About a year and a half prior, I began working with another flea market doing their social media and I was very much a utility,” she stated. “I designed their website, managed it, and their vendors […] which really gave me insight into how production and coordination works.”
Learning from that experience, Finley opened her business curating and selling vintage clothes, developing her perspectives as both buyer and seller. Finley would branch out to create her current business venture, HGM.
“Creating [HGM] was definitely essential not just for me but for other women-owned businesses that want to feel welcome, supported, and attract their customers,” she stated.
Finding Finley’s target audience came naturally, stating, “I did it for the girlies. The girls, gays, and theys who enjoy shopping for Y2K vintage clothing; [The market] is for anyone who wants to shop sustainably.”
As a first-time business starter herself, Finley wants other hopeful business starters to know two things: the importance of trusting yourself and surrounding yourself with powerfully supportive people.
“You cannot do it alone. My family is one thousand percent the reason why I’m able to participate in markets.”
However successful HGM becomes, a principle to any running business is the principle of sacrifice.
“In 2024, I didn’t give a lot of time to my personal life, I wasn’t going out very much and I tried to fill my calendar with a lot of work and distractions,” Finley discussed. “But moving forward into 2025, I’m clearing out space to prioritize what I value like school.”
As stated, going into 2025, Finley has renewed properties to stay on track with her livelihood. She reflects on her time within the business field and explains her motivation to accomplish her goals and aspirations.
“My mom was my sole motivation for me to be here. She was the hardest-working woman of my life,” Finley stated. “I got blessed with the best, most hardworking mother ever, and seeing her have to balance all of these responsibilities just proves that I can do it myself.”
Femininity is present throughout Finley’s life: her mother, her business, and her personality. However, having this femininity present as a woman in business comes with its difficulties. “[Men] will see that I’m affiliated with HGM and ask if I’m a vendor there […] they never assume that im the owner,” she stated.
With HGM constantly growing and incorporating new projects, Finley discussed the possible future of connecting her business ventures back to Finley’s sustainable, community roots.
“I’m on the search for new brands and vendors and find proper spaces for them […] I do want to open a store one day to have a sustainable space to sell clothing, vintage, even cameras, and jewelry, everything like that. I want to host a lot more community events that are intimate.”